Creativity Finds A Way: Creating During the Darkest of Times
Like life, creativity finds a way. In fact, we are not unique in surviving a pandemic. The poet and playwright William Shakespeare offers an example of how creative work continues in the darkest of times—whether it is the 1590s or 2020s. English professor Travis D. Williams, says, “The word ‘poet’ comes from the Greek ‘to make.’ Shakespeare used language and thought to make a path for himself through the miseries of the plague and the resulting economic depression. Creating and making during lockdowns are nothing new. What is new is this: most of us haven’t experienced it before. Our desire to move on from difficult times is strong. For example, we forget AIDS is still an epidemic. It’s likely we will, in our lifetimes, collectively experience more of this kind of weariness. However, we continue to make things, write poems, and sing songs. I recall many years of directing Christmas…